Sustainability that runs through the design, not a check at the end
For a long time, an LCA was something you did once the hard decisions had already been made. Students would complete a project, then run the assessment at the end - a calculation to confirm the design rather than shape it.
At UCL, that sequence has been turned around. Students now begin with a generic drawing and a preliminary calculation, then sharpen the assessment as the design becomes more detailed. The climate account grows up alongside the building, so environmental impact is something students weigh throughout the process rather than discover at handover.
“We used to teach LCA as the last step - you finished the design, then you calculated. Now students start with a rough drawing and a first calculation, and the assessment develops with the design. It changes what they pay attention to.” - Paul Andreas Jensen, lecturer, UCL
For a market where LCA is now a requirement, working this way also builds the right instincts early. Reliable LCA work matters for meeting the rules - and more traditional tools tend to carry a lot of manual work, which makes the process slow and easy to get wrong. Bringing the assessment forward, and making it quick, lets students focus on the design questions instead of the spreadsheet.
Building a sustainable mindset
The goal at UCL isn't really a better calculation. It's a mindset: that students leave with sustainability built into how they think. Students today are noticeably more concerned about the future than older generations, and UCL wants them to see that they can do something about it - that they have both the knowledge and the tools to make a real contribution.
It shows in how they work. Students don't treat sustainability as simply picking the material with the lowest carbon number; they weigh it against cost, buildability, durability and what the data can actually support - the same balance they'll strike as working professionals.
“In the early stages of drawing, I am thinking: ‘Can we use this instead, so we won’t have this problem later?’” - Student, construction programme, UCL
How LCA changes the way students think
Almost every student we talked with, says that working with LCA has changed how they approach a project and the materials they choose, paying closer attention to the carbon carried by their materials, reading EPDs more critically, looking for alternatives to carbon-heavy structures, and thinking about reuse and what happens to a material after its first life. They have started asking these questions earlier, before a design is fixed and changes become difficult or expensive to reverse. It is less about producing a number at the end and more about building an instinct for how a decision will land.
Concrete is where this shows up most clearly. Many students were struck by how much the structural concrete drove a building's footprint, and rather than writing it off, they began asking: where is it genuinely needed, where might an alternative work, and how do lifespan and durability weigh against the upfront carbon? That is the kind of thinking UCL is after, not that one material is simply good or bad, but knowing where materials have the greatest impact and deciding accordingly.
Why Real-Time LCA works in a classroom
UCL tried several LCA tools on the construction programme before settling on Real-Time LCA as the most intuitive for teaching. In practice, that intuitiveness is what makes the difference in a classroom.
The platform is quick to introduce: after roughly two hours of instruction, students understand how to use it and are keen to work with it. Its simplicity has a second effect too - it helps students appreciate just how complex and time-consuming LCA has traditionally been.
Speed is the other advantage. An assessment that might otherwise take up days can be done far faster, so it keeps up with the many iterations a student project goes through rather than lagging behind them. Real-Time LCA reads the data from the students' building models and carries out the assessment on the platform, so the carbon picture updates as the design does - without a separate documentation exercise at the end.
The learning doesn't stop at the course, either. Students meet Real-Time LCA again during their internships, which ties their academic work to how the industry actually operates and gives them a competency they carry straight into professional practice.
Key outcomes
- LCA has moved from an end-of-project check to an early-design practice - students assess carbon from the first generic drawings.
- Students onboard onto Real-Time LCA in about two hours of instruction.
- Assessments that once took up to two days are completed far faster, keeping pace with design iterations.
- Students graduate with a working command of LCA - a competency they carry into internships and professional practice.
- Sustainability is taught as an integral part of the design process, building a lasting sustainable mindset.